On behalf of the American University and the
Center for the Study of the Global South, I would like to welcome all of you to
this conference -- with a special thank-you to those who have traveled some distance
to be here. My colleagues have assembled a distinguished group representing both
North and South to address the potentially daunting subject of social development
-- a subject that demands the rigorous intellectual analysis and multi-cultural
perspectives which are the hallmarks of this center.

When I accepted Dr. Clovis Maksoud's invitation
to be Chairman of the Advisory Board, I did so because I believed that the center
could make important contributions to the resolution of a wide range of problems
whose escalating gravity is matched only by their increasingly global relevance.
The center has proven to be a forum where both North and South can meet to examine
and debate global issues and their implications for the twenty first century.

But no meeting in which I have participated
has presented challenges so complex or opportunities so great as the subject of
this conference, the world summit for social development in Copenhagen next March.

The Copenhagen summit's objectives reflect
an impressive, expansive landscape of human hope and ambition -- a landscape where
the enormity of the world's social and economic problems is not viewed as a discouraging
sign of irremediable inequity and despair, but rather as a powerful impetus for
us to redress imbalances and reaffirm our commitment to world-wide social development.

By definition, social development may well
be a more complex topic than those treated by other world conferences. To address
effectively all the ramifications of the summit's three core issues -- poverty,
employment and social integration -- would require prodigious political, economic
and social intervention. We could find ourselves, therefore, constantly drawn
toward troubling over-simplification: a retreat to a relatively manageable focus
on narrow sectoral issues such as health, education, female empowerment, job creation
or disability, or an advance to broader, but more nebulous, levels of concentration
with an attempt to integrate the major issues such as the economy, politics, the
environment and gender equity. Our first challenge is to balance these two approaches
and resist succumbing to an either/or dichotomy.

Earlier this year, the United Nations highlighted
another important but, this time, alarming new dimension to the social development
debate when it noted that heads of state or government would be meeting in Copenhagen
'to address the social disintegration and world disorder that threaten the common
interest'.

Concepts of 'social disintegration and world
disorder' are not casual words to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, they are increasingly
pertinent to our contemporary world. This alarming description could be an early
warning on the horizon that we heed, or a harbinger of a disastrous destiny.

Whichever option prevails will depend on what
we can achieve in the coming years working through such initiatives as the summit
and other global gatherings. These assemblies can explore the means to inject
social concerns into political messages and platforms. They can raise awareness
of the importance of the social facets of sustainable development, and so galvanize
the world to action.

It is very appropriate that the social summit
coincides with the United Nations' 50th birthday. While the international community
currently is not dangerously torn by military or ideological confrontations, we
have clear evidence of society's disintegration; the world seems to be fragmenting
socially as well as politically. We find ourselves at a critical juncture where
the needs of people must be put at the center of development. The causes and effects
of social and economic distress can no longer be neatly relegated to any one part
of the world. North and South alike are chronicling the destructive actions of
those who feel they have no viable alternatives.

We have to work together for the common good
and our mutual welfare or we will allow disparities and polarization, resentment
and fears to degenerate into a dispiriting and destructive global struggle.

Our options are inherent in the purpose and
goals of the upcoming Copenhagen meeting, the penultimate in a series of global
gatherings which have laid the foundations of the social development summit. We
have tried in these conferences to devise, in creative ways, global strategies
and responses to fill the requirements of an increasingly interdependent world.
The Copenhagen summit will have to assimilate these findings and integrate them
into its own plan of action.

To grasp the enormous challenges and find that
elusive parity between narrow intervention and broad restructuring, we must first
identify the commonality amongst the dominant factors such as health care, education,
fertility, employment, gender equity, environment, human rights and participatory
decision-making.

Secondly, and inevitably in a setting where
all these issues seem of equal import, we must prioritize and promote initially
those endeavors that will energize a momentum toward comprehensive individual,
community and national progress.

Our collective experience in developmental
activism suggests two endeavors that meet these criteria to promote participatory
decision-making at family, community and national levels, and to improve the status,
capabilities and life choices of women. Whether we call these goals empowerment,
self-help or participatory development, their essentials are both clear and important:
dignity and opportunity for both men and women alike, all within a democratic
framework of decision-making, goal-setting and public policy formulation. This
framework should encompass the everyday-life decisions made by individuals or
families, as well as the determinations of governments and legislatures.

The status and role of women will continue
to assume a more and more central importance in fields such as community development,
the environment, employment, human rights and democratization. Experiences in
a variety of cultures repeatedly validate a significant fact: the most effective
means of long-term sustainable development comprises educating young girls, giving
women greater choices and increasing their participation in the community at large.

An educated mother spreads her knowledge far
beyond her immediate family, to the extended family, to the surrounding society
and environment. Being able to read and write, she passes on to her children not
only these skills but conveys to them a sense of dignity and self-confidence as
well. Her own increased resourcefulness promotes productive social and economic
activities at the family and community level, and on into ever widening circles.

Greater empowerment of women encourages a new
regard for human rights as well as the emergence of other desirable political
reforms. There is little doubt that the triad of freedom, participation and equality
of opportunity are vital for equitable and long-lasting socio-economic development.

My own personal experience in development activities
in Jordan has confirmed this combination as an essential catalyst for sustainable
development. Through the projects of the development foundation I work with, we
have built upon our country's heritage and traditions and moved beyond the conventional
centralized welfare practices to integrate social development more closely with
economic priorities, especially through the empowerment of women. With the assistance
of United Nations agencies, international organizations and bilateral and local
donors, we have implemented, in both rural and urban areas, several model projects
that address the community's combined social, economic, environmental and political
needs. These have not ignored local patterns of life and sensitivities. Still,
the key factor that fostered unprecedented yet socially acceptable creativity
and bolstered their capacity to act was that men and women worked closely together
to determine their own needs, goals, and strategies.

The two essential factors -- gender equity
and democracy -- are anathemas in many countries. But the advancement of women
and the promotion of participatory decision making do not entail the imposition
of a particular lifestyle or the forced acceptance of different values. Progressive
social development is not defined by any one single culture, whether it be Western,
Islamic, Asian or African. The guiding rule is to develop and grow as distinct
societies with our own traditions and within our own systems.

We witnessed in Rio, Vienna and Cairo the cultural
sensitivity of many contemporary global issues. This reality should not deter
us but merely remind us that though the challenges and threats are common, we
are a diverse world. It is critically important that the preparatory work for
the social development summit recognizes the plethora of cultural approaches and
differences and deals with them through a combination of honesty, humility and
tolerance.

The stark transnational actualities -- natural
resource shortages; population pressures; insufficient access to basic services;
drugs; illegal and mass migration; brain drain; capital flight -- make any course
of social development action more demanding and difficult than ever. Nevertheless,
we can accept the challenge and work together to transform a global divide into
a shared concern and awareness. A new outlook could generate a realistic and enthusiastic
momentum of activism and sensible cooperation. The solutions we seek must be like
the problems we face -- multisectoral and international. They must be devised
and implemented by a fresh coalition of public and private institutions and individuals.

A strong message needs to emerge soon -- that
social development in the end is not just about improving quality of life. It
is about realizing that the human family's security is at stake. It is about recognizing
that diversity has merit and that tolerance and cooperation will have to be the
overriding principles leading us to the summit. Only then do we improve our chances
for success in Copenhagen. We could lay there a groundwork for a future where
hope takes on new significance for all of us -- only then will the summit's decisions
not be empty gestures but turning points in mankind's history.